1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to health and nutrition. In particular, the present invention relates to devices and methods for controlling caloric intake which results in weight gain or loss.
2. Background of the Invention
Uncontrolled eating habits and calorie overconsumption have resulted in rising obesity rates. Obesity may be defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on a person's health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. The health and social impacts of obesity are numerous. Obesity increases the risk of illness from more than 30 serious medical conditions including hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease, turning out to be one of the top killers in the country. Those that suffer from extreme obesity, that is, having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 30, experience mobility issues and in some cases must resort to expensive personal transportation devices. This is steadily increasing the cost of healthcare in the country, in addition to the constant social stigmatization and discrimination in employment and academic settings.
The condition has swept the nation—currently 127 million adults (over half of the population) in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese, and 9 million are severely obese. The obesity epidemic is predicted to get worse. Many experts suggest that if nothing is done to curb this problem, well over 80% of our nation will be overweight by 2010. There have been several efforts to curb the obesity epidemic, but most are misguided or ineffective when applied. Diet programs designed to reduce overweight or prevent weight gain lack a long-term perspective and the ability to curtail calorie over-consumption in the long run for months, years, or decades. Expensive diet programs, specialty health foods, and even diet pills do not stand a chance against cheap, widely available, and massively advertised food. A lack of proper guidance ultimately results in the uncontrolled eating habits leading to obesity. Exercise regimens may be ineffective as weight control measures when accompanied by calorie overconsumption at a level that is in excess of what is needed to maintain daily caloric needs. In many instances, weight control can only be brought about by calorie intake control. This can be by bariatric surgery, i.e. forcibly, or voluntarily food intake reduction. Surprisingly, there are few other options, since digestive enzyme inhibitors have given mixed results.
What is needed is a treatment to control calorie intake and weight gain over long periods of time within a traditional dietary selection specific for individual families and communities. The treatment has to address calorie consumption at a very basic level by changing a person's eating habits. The treatment should be simple to administer, effective and capable of aiding individuals adjust their consumption of calories over a life-time. It should be a change in eating style that leads to a lifelong adjustment to reduced and decelerated calorie consumption, not a short term or transient change with high probability for recurrence of older eating habits that are associated with calorie overconsumption and weight gain. The treatment should provide a gradual and permanent transition in eating habits that lead from high calorie consumption to ever reducing calorie intakes until ideal bodyweights are approached.
The first key issue in calorie consumption is the “rate of calorie consumption” during individual meals. During the time period between the beginning of a meal and the feeling of satiation (about 15 min in an average adult) the rate of calorie consumption needs to be minimized and used to consume calories at a deliberately reduced rate in order to minimize calorie intake before the end of a meal. Such a habit of slow eating needs to be trained over long periods of time (months, years) in order to become permanently accepted even in the presence of challenges to the contrary. Chewing periods need to be maximized and easy calorie consumption (e.g. liquid calorie consumption) minimized. All of these habits require a systematic training to eat deliberately slow in an environment (e.g. in terms of culinary traditions, economics, etc.) that is compatible over long periods, i.e. a lifetime. Learning to eat slowly can be achieved within family traditions (“Grandma's cooking is the best anyhow”) without the need for specific and often costly diet programs that offer no long term perspective (“can't wait to get off this diet”).
A second critical issue is to avoid calorie consumption after the feeling of satiation has been detected (i.e. stuffing). The instant satiation sets, calorie consumption has to be terminated, irrespective of the amount of food still available. Instructions needs to be given to stop eating and leftovers stored until the next meal. Discontinuation of calorie consumption past the point of satiation should be rewarded. Slow eating and cessation of calorie consumption at a meal need to be trained for long periods of time by means of a new technology in form of “smart place sets” that help monitor calorie consumption and provide feedback and guidance for slow eating and limited calorie consumption.